There was one burning question during Sylvester Croom's Monday morning teleconference.

That question centered around his decision to play wide receiver Arceto Clark eight games into his true freshman season, thus burning his redshirt.

Clark took the field for the first time Saturday against Middle Tennessee and finished with one carry for two yards on his only touch.

"In efforts to get more speed, he was the only guy left we thought could give us that," Croom said. "We had other situations to get him involved the other night but the opportunities did not happen the way we wanted them to. We are also training him as a kickoff return guy to keep (Derek) Pegues from wearing down, which I think has hurt his play on defense. Arceto is a guy with the ball in his hands can be a home-run hitter."

Clark was the so-called secret weapon Croom mentioned during his Tuesday press conference last week.

"It took time for him to develop," said Croom. "But the last two weeks on the scout team, he has caught my eye and I noticed he was starting to play faster.

"I came to him and asked him if he could handle playing in the SEC. He said yes he was. So I told the team after Thursday's practice that we were pulling his redshirt and he was going to play this week."

Croom said he had reservations about taking away Clark's redshirt this late in the season but believes he can give the Bulldogs the speed they have been lacking on offense.